Vine Maple Place brings community together in an effort to help Maple Valley’s homeless

Vine Maple Place brings community together in an effort to help Maple Valley’s homeless
From the very start Vine Maple Place has been a grassroots effort. In early 2000, two women who were members of a local church went to their pastor, explained VMP Executive Director Colleen Starr. “They went to their pastor and they said they really felt like something should be done to help homeless families with kids, specifically moms,” Starr said. “The pastor quickly said, ‘That’s too big …

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Tags: brings, Community, effort, help, homeless, Maple, Place, together, Valley's, Vine

The Importance Of A Real Estate Investing Budget

Investing in real estate can be a great way to make money.

But at the same time, there are many details that you should look into as well.

One of the most important things to consider when it comes to real estate investing is your budget.

By having an investing budget you will be able to stay on track, and ensure that you do not get yourself into any hot water. Time and time again real estate investors make bad mistakes when it comes to their budget. Sometimes they can recover, and other times they may end up losing money. But one thing is for sure.

If you have an investing budget you will give yourself the best possible chance of staying out of financial trouble. And this is definitely something that you want to do.

When setting your investing budget be sure to consider every option. If you forget even one detail you may end up messing up your entire budget. So in order to make sure that your investing budget is as accurate as possible you will need to write it down.

This will give you what you need in order to analyze your situation, and then determine what your investing budget is.

One thing to remember about your investing budget is that it can change as time goes by. After you have one property making you a steady income you may want to invest in another and if this is the case you will have more money to do so thanks to your first investment being a success.

For this reason, it is important that you rethink your investing budget on a regular basis. Of course you only have to do this if your situation has changed at all.

Do not make the mistake of getting involved with real estate investing if you do not have a concrete budget in place. There is no good that can come from this. Remember, detailing an investing budget is not difficult. Sure, you will have to put in a few hours or so, but in the long run it will be well worth your time.

Overall, an investing budget is one detail that is important if you are going to get involved with real estate. If you can master your own budget, you will be able to more easily make money in the real estate industry.

Tags: budget, Estate, Importance, Investing, Real

No Fret Family Budget

For some, the idea of a budget is often a blur.  It is frustrating to see how hard it is to do a budget and realizing that with one wrong purchase, you can actually ruin the entire thing. And this has been a perennial headache for most homemakers. 

It is about time to overhaul the way people look at budgeting.  It can actually be a great way to keep track of your family’s expenditures and help you evaluate the things that you spend the lion’s share of the family’s earnings on.

What is a budget?  A budget is a tool for handling your finances by controlling the family’s expenditures in a way that money is enough for paying up bills, and still ensuring that savings are set aside for future expenses – vacations, or children’s education, or even for retirement.

Try these simple steps in preparing a no fret family budget, and see the benefits of intelligent spending.

1.  Gather three months of your pay stubs and get your average monthly earnings.

2.  Get out three months of your monthly bills.  Do this for the fixed expenses like the rent, phone bill, car payments and other loans that come monthly.   Add them up and get the average. Do the same for other expenses like groceries, and credit card bills.

3.  Evaluate the results of your computations.  Looking at your average monthly earnings against your monthly fixed expenses and other monthly expenses, think of some ways to economize.  Cut back on some items that are somehow unnecessary.

4.  Knowing the facts of your income and expenses, develop a family budget and try to stick to this monthly budget.

5.  Now that you have a monthly budget, set up a savings account.  Save up by making regular deposits to this account.

6.  Keep track of this monthly family budget just to see if it is working for you.  Try to fine-tune the “rough edges” of this budget as you go along.

7.  If you can get hold of a personal budgeting software or spreadsheet application to keep record of your budget, the better.  This will make organizing your expenses very easy.

These are the basic steps in developing and implementing a no fret, easy to stick to monthly family budget. Of course each family has diverse needs and wants.  You have the freedom to develop your own monthly family budget, depending on your family’s financial background and needs.  No matter how you do it, just focus on the end result, which is building a savings that leads to a bright and financially stable future for your family.

Tags: budget, Family, Fret

5 Easy Ways a Budget Will Save you Money and Reduce your Debts

Unless you step up to the challenge of controlling your finances, your debt level and your financial future, who else will? Preparing a budget is the ideal tool to get you started. It’s also really quite easy.

#1. A budget will show your current financial position.

Without a budget you are not able to clearly see the extent of your spending compared to your income. This is the most important role of your budget. It will show you whether you are living within your means or whether you are living on borrowed funds. It is also the tool that can show you where all your money is being spent. This allows you to answer important questions, such as “Am I wasting money on things I don’t really need?” “Is my credit card debt to blame for my predicament?” and “How much better off would I be if I could manage to be debt free?”

#2. A budget points you to the areas that need your attention.

There are reasons why you are in this worrying financial position. It could be that you are spending more than you earn, you are not paying off the credit cards quickly enough and are paying interest on the interest. Or it could be that you’re not saving for those inevitable emergencies and large financial bills that arise from time to time. The budget can provide answers that show you what is required to fix each situation.

#3. A budget helps you set goals to pay down the debt and save for emergencies.

A budget can help you calculate how much you need to put aside to save for emergencies and large unexpected bills. Is it the children’s education? Is it a holiday for the family or yourself? Is it to set some money aside for retirement? Or, is it to replace the car, furniture or washing machine? If you are spending all you earn and not saving any, you may be condemning yourself to lifelong poverty. Not a happy prospect.

#4. A budget shows whose money you are really spending.

The budget can show you how much of your spending is being funded by others. How much is being funded by the Credit Card provider or the bank. The cost of this funding is interest. The interest costs are most likely the reason you are in this situation, currently. It can clearly show how much you need to reduce your spending to live within your means

#5. A budget can keep you on track and motivated.

Once you have set up a budget it is no use putting it into the drawer and forgetting it ever existed. It is meant to be a living document that can help you often. It can keep you motivated to stick to your plan by tracking your progress towards the goal and seeing your savings rising and debt falling.

A budget is the key to getting your finances under control and the debt worry off your back. Preparing your own budget is very enlightening and offers you the chance of finally getting control of your financial future. Isn’t it worth a little effort? Don’t you deserve it?

Tags: budget, Debts, Easy, Money, Reduce, save, Ways

SCHOOL BOARD RACES: Candidate file in PRSD, WW-P, Montgomery

SCHOOL BOARD RACES: Candidate file in PRSD, WW-P, Montgomery
Voters will have no shortage of candidates to choose from in the school elections in April.

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Tags: Board, Candidate, file, Montgomery, PRSD, RACES, school